Dilshanie's story
Transcript below from Dilshanie’s segment during our Education for Action event.
“Earlier this year, when I was finishing up my doctoral dissertation on weather, climate and risk in Bangladesh, a number of my friends emailed me to say that the Climate Museum was looking for someone who focuses specifically on climate and inequality, which was the subject of my research. [Now,] I count myself as lucky to be able to work together with such an incredible team of people [at the Climate Museum]. I really feel that the camaraderie we have here at the museum creates the foundation that supports all of our programming.
I think that the challenges of the present demand a kind of dynamism. The resilience that we've cultivated in the pandemic positions us even better in being able to respond to the changing circumstances of the climate crisis itself.
When I first joined the museum, I worked on a discussion event called COVID’s Lessons for Climate and Inequality: from Sacrifice Zones to Justice. Four expert panelists [Eddie Bautista, Executive Director of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance; Dr. Cheryl Holder, President of the Florida State Medical Association and Co-chair of the Florida Clinicians for Climate Action; Brentin Mock, Writer and Editor at CityLab; and Jacqueline Patterson, Director of the NAACP Climate and Environmental Justice Program] shared their insights on how COVID has intensified historical legacies of harm in the U.S., and also what the pandemic teaches us in dealing with a planetary crisis. So, if you haven't already, I strongly recommend that you check out COVID's Lessons and our previous event in the series called Black Lives and the Climate Crisis, which you can find on our YouTube page.
The feedback that we've received is really a testament to the desire our audiences have to engage climate through different kinds of pathways. So, with this in mind, I want to give you all an exclusive [preview of our] programming that will debut next year.
Beginning in 2021 at the Climate Museum, we'll be launching a monthly discussion series called Talking Climate that we’ll host every second Friday of each month. These panel discussions will focus on themes that explore the intersection of the climate crisis and different forms of inequality in the U.S. and around the world.
Our first event on January 8th is called Talking Climate: Displacements, where our panelists will address the new ways that the climate crisis is actively displacing people from their homes, and lands in the present, and also how historical dispossession has shaped what we see in the world today. Our Director Miranda Massie will moderate this conversation, which will also feature experts with backgrounds in journalism, activism, and the law.
On February 12th, our Talking Climate conversation will be on grief, which I think will be particularly poignant after a year of COVID.
On March 12th, our Talking Climate conversation will be on infrastructure, with more announcements for the rest of the year to follow.
I'm looking forward to all of it! Thank you for your support of our public education programming.”
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Donations to the Climate Museum will help to deepen understanding, build connections, and advance a culture for action through climate programming.
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You’re invited to Talking Climate: Displacements, on January 8, from 1-2 p.m. EST. Expert panelists include Marleine Bastien, immigrant rights activist and Executive Director of the Family Action Network Movement and Vann R. Newkirk II, Senior Editor at The Atlantic and Floodlines podcast creator, will detail displacements in Miami, the Gulf Coast, and beyond. The discussion will be moderated by Miranda Massie, Director of the Climate Museum, with a visual presentation by artist Virginia Hanusik to open the event.